Name: Lee Hallam
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Abilities: Lee has the ability to manipulate gravity. In addition to merely changing the gravity in the immediate area around him, he can assign gravitational fields to points in space, to pull in and trap objects and people. He is also able to change the gravity in separate areas – while a group of enemies merely feet from him might be trapped and crushed with high gravity, he himself could be floating on low gravity.
Weaknesses: Due to the large area of effectiveness of his abilities, Lee can find it difficult to work in a team without hindering his allies, even with control. Also, certain mutants may be able to move quickly enough to escape his gravitational fields.
Lee has a difficult offense – while if there is an environmental hazard, he could create a gravitational field to pull an enemy towards it, if there were nothing there, he would find it difficult to directly attack an enemy beyond trapping them, and his only real way of injuring someone directly with his powers is shifting their local gravity to an unbearable weight.
Finally, his abilities require him to be conscious and at least concentrating to maintain – while he can maintain several states of gravity and several gravitational fields at once, if he is injured enough to throw off his concentration, or incapacitated, gravity returns to normal.
Appearance: Lee is 5’7”, with a skinny build, pale skin, long and messy dirty blond hair, and grey eyes that darken to black whenever he uses his ability. While he is not completely without a fashion sense, he mostly wears jeans and T-shirts, whatever is practical, and in colder climates, is seldom seen without a large orange puffer jacket that dwarfs him a little.
Personality: Lee is withdrawn and shy, seldom making eye contact with those he speaks to – his normal goal when entering a room is to sit in the corner and remain unnoticed. He distrusts most other people, and it takes quite a bit for him to open up to someone. Even then, he is still an introvert at heart – while he can make friends, very rarely, he still needs plenty of time alone. This is perhaps his most defining attribute to those who don’t know him.
To those who do know him, Lee’s defining attribute would be his intelligence. In particular, he has a great knowledge of astrophysics and gravitational physics, as well as most scientific subjects. Also, when alone or with people he trusts, he displays a confidence and eloquence that would surprise anyone who had only seen him in public.
When he first came to the School, Lee was diagnosed with clinical depression, and suffered from suicidal tendencies. While he has improved, shades of his old moods still remain.
Background: Born in Manchester, England, Lee was raised in a poor family. His parents drank heavily, and would sometimes take out their frustrations on him. Lee’s genius was evident from an early age, where he shone at primary school in spite of vicious bullying, perhaps because his parents had prepared him so well for such treatment. When he was awarded a scholarship to a prestigious independent school, he was simply bullied further, not only for his intellect, but for his working-class origins.
When Lee was 13 and leaving the school one afternoon, a bully cornered him, and it was then that Lee’s powers first manifested, and the bully was pinned to the ground by extremely heavy gravity. Lee managed to think logically despite the circumstances, and realised almost immediately that he was a mutant, releasing the bully and running. Even though he was tormented at the school, he had a bright future, most of the teachers agreeing he was destined for Oxford or Cambridge. As much as he hated the bullies, it would be disastrous to jeapordise that for the sake of some petty revenge.
In spite of his restraint, Lee was expelled from the school the next day, when the bully greatly embellished the story of how he’d been attacked by a “vicious mutant”. Lee’s parents were furious when they found out he was mutant, kicking him out of the house and refusing to allow him back in even for his clothes or basic belongings.
In desperation, his bright future in tatters, Lee used his newfound ability to pin them to the ground while he barged back inside to take some money and pack a rucksack. However, in his desperation, and his unfamiliarity with his powers, and his fear of his violent parents, he applied too high a level of gravity, and both of them died on the floor.
After this, he fled. He knew it would only be a matter of time before someone found the bodies, and the police would be after him. The bully would no doubt tell them what he was, and what he could do, and the police would know he was responsible. And no matter how much he told them it had been an accident, he knew the police would never believe him.
To his great fortune, a representative of the School found him and, after hearing and believing his story, offered him shelter there. With nowhere else to go, Lee took the representative up on the offer, and has been at the school for the last four years.